Yesterday’s managers learned the basics of management alongside how to manage a variety of types and sizes of libraries. Today’s managers must not only learn the basics and managing by library types and sizes, but also how to recognize change in and of itself, determine how the organization and umbrella institution identifies and manages change, and—most importantly—exist and prosper in today’s and tomorrow’s continually changing environments. To meet this challenge, managers need tools to help position their library for excellence. Five tools can provide avenues for success within the organizational structure:
• defining or “profiling” employees, workers, constituents, peers as well as individuals in the umbrella structure;
• case methods and scenarios;
• visuals such as grids, charts, graphs and mapping;
• data-gathering focusing on outcomes to illustrate meaningful value of expertise, services, resources and facilities;
• and, carefully chosen terminology to articulate that data and directions.|
Julie Todaro, an ACRL Past-President and author of Library Management for the Digital Age: A New Paradigm, will help us think how to act on each of these steps in ways that fit each library’s individual needs.
Sponsored by Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
